Only one senior UK politician has a positive favourability rating: YouGov poll
Key Points
- Andy Burnham is the only senior UK politician with a positive favourability rating (+4) in the latest YouGov poll.
- Keir Starmer remains deeply unpopular at -46, unchanged despite recent election losses and calls for him to quit.
- Kemi Badenoch scores her best at -17, the highest for any Tory leader since 2021, while Nigel Farage sits at -37.Ed Davey is on -9, Zack Polanski hits a new low of -27 after controversy.
- Burnham leads strongly among Labour (+41), Lib Dem (+24) and Green (+18) voters.
Andy Burnham is the only senior UK politician polled with a positive favourability rating, scoring +4 in a new YouGov survey.
The Greater Manchester mayor is viewed favourably by 34% of Britons and unfavourably by 30%. No other politician across the major parties or senior cabinet achieved a positive net rating.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer sits at -46, with 23% favourable and 69% unfavourable. The figure is broadly unchanged from April despite calls from within Labour for him to quit following last week’s local and devolved election losses.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch recorded -17, her highest score to date and the highest of any Conservative leader since June 2021. 31% of Britons view her favourably and 48% unfavourably, with 77% of 2024 Conservative voters now backing her compared to 48% a year ago.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage scored -37, with 27% favourable and 65% unfavourable. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey scored -9, with 29% favourable and 38% unfavourable.
Green leader Zack Polanski recorded his lowest score to date at -27. 50% of Britons now view him unfavourably, up 16 points from April, after he reposted a tweet criticising police officers’ handling of the Golders Green stabbing. Lib Dem voters viewing him unfavourably rose to 45% from 25% over the same period.
Burnham’s lead extends across the Labour electorate. 57% of 2024 Labour voters view him favourably, giving him a net score of +41 within the party. Angela Rayner trails on +13, Yvette Cooper on +12 and Ed Miliband on +7.
Wes Streeting, who resigned as Health Secretary on the day of the poll’s release, scored -9 among Labour voters and -28 with the public overall.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves recorded -21 among Labour voters, with 14% of Britons seeing her favourably and 65% unfavourably.
Burnham also holds positive net ratings among 2024 Liberal Democrat voters (+24) and Green voters (+18).
Between 20% and 26% of Conservative and Reform UK voters view him favourably, with 53% to 57% holding an unfavourable opinion.
Other Labour figures recorded low public recognition. More than 70% of Britons were unsure of their opinion of Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell and Defence Secretary John Healey.
The YouGov tracker covers favourability ratings across UK political leaders and senior cabinet figures. The latest wave follows last week’s local and devolved elections, which delivered substantial losses for Labour and gains for Reform UK and the Greens.
